Many digital cameras, especially the lower quality digital cameras associated with cell phones or other portable electronic devices, do not include a flash. Pictures taken without a flash may produce distorted images due to the effect of shadowing. Shadows are dark areas that reduce the quality of the image because they reduce the detail and distort smooth transitions between objects within the captured image. When shadowing occurs, the displayed image may not be a true representation of the original captured image, this of course is undesirable. Even if a flash is provided, shadowing may still occur due to many other factors, which may include quality of the camera, the use of inexpensive lenses to keep the cost of the device low, limited computing resources of the camera or other portable image capturing device, location of the image being captured, and the experience of the photographer/user. In addition, images with bright backgrounds may suffer from poor quality also.
What is needed is a way to improve the quality of digital images by eliminating or reducing any shadowing/brightening effects, thereby increasing the detail of the image and smoothing the transitions within the displayed image.